


Suspiciously Magic Moments

by waltzalascherzo



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Aerith is a gremlin, F/F, Full of bad puns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-20
Updated: 2020-06-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:47:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24826291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waltzalascherzo/pseuds/waltzalascherzo
Summary: If plotting ways to cast magic on yourself to get the attention of the cute girl you just met was wrong, Aerith didn’t want to be right. It will take skill, finesse, poise and dignity to pull this off.
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough/Tifa Lockhart
Comments: 1
Kudos: 166





	Suspiciously Magic Moments

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks again to the Aerti discord ;)  
> I don't own any characters etc. Disclaimer  
> FF7R and OG spoilers

Suspiciously Magic Moments

It’s been less than an hour since  Aerith has met  Tifa , and she’s got to hand it to herself- she's already scheming. Who wouldn’t, if they too were in her ridiculously cute shoes?

If plotting ways to cast magic on yourself to get the attention of the cute girl you just met was wrong,  Aerith didn’t want to  be right. It will take  _ skill, finesse, poise _ and  _ dignity _ to pull this off.

Aerith could feel Zack egging her on from the Lifestream. She swore to make him proud.

Her first impression had been that  Tifa was, in fact, unfairly gorgeous. Cloud had raced after  Tifa towards Wall Market but had been reticent to talk about her- to absolutely no surprise.  Aerith had surmised that his devotion to  Tifa wasn’t just due to her ravishing good looks, and this was made apparent instantly upon waking up and seeing  Tifa’s kind concern and gentle inquiries towards  Aerith , who she had just met.

As if being unbearably hot wasn’t enough,  Tifa also had this stupidly cute and bashful reaction when  Aerith simply  _ had _ to balance herself by using  Tifa’s forearms while she readjusted her heels. Of course, this meant that Aerith was going to tease  Tifa to no end to elicit more of those flustered looks.

She did score a lot of respect points from  Tifa when she hefted a chair and absolutely obliterated one of  Corneo’s creeps. To think all manner of ladies were forced to endure such terrible ordeals.  Aerith stealth stomped the balls of every dude that was taken out by her and  Tifa for good measure.

Leslie came in bearing the gifts of their weapons and clothes, a perfectly vague look in his eyes.  This vacant expression befuddled  Aerith at first, until she reasoned that she had been unfairly comparing him to Zack whose vitality shone his expressiveness.

Thinking of him renewed her drive to get a date out of  Tifa \-  Aerith closed her eyes and imagined Zack in the corner, shouting words of encouragement while doing all of those squats he loved so much. What a vision.

As  Tifa grabbed their things from Leslie and turned back to  Aerith , it was time for Act 1.

“Oh _no_ ,” Aerith groaned as her ankle gave way. Tifa immediately used her free arm to grasp Aerith’s forearm to right her. _So gallant_ Aerith internally purred. “I must still be feeling the effects of Corneo’s knockout gas,” she pouted. Tifa raised an eyebrow in skepticism, clearly remembering Aerith’s noble deed of bashing a goon with a chair just a few minutes ago. “Not sure I can balance on my own,” she swayed a little for added effect.

“I can help,”  Tifa immediately offered and  Aerith nearly fell over for real when  Tifa let go of her arm to pull up a large, ostentatiously decorated barrel for  Aerith to sit on. “Here you go!” She cheerily backed up and turned around to afford  Aerith some privacy.

Aerith was so affronted that she almost forgot her multi-tiered plan.

* * *

So Act 1 was a bust, no big deal, Aerith asserted. Act 2 would go better.

Aerith had readjusted her Materia when the Planet whispered to her  Tifa’s name. She turned around quickly to see  Tifa startle and clear her throat. “Let’s mosey,”  Tifa gestured to the door and  Aerith was fondly reminded of Cloud.

“Don’t worry Tifa, I will lead the way!” Aerith pranced over to Tifa. “Age before beauty,” she winked as Tifa warbled something incomprehensible. “I think Cloud will be fine for a little while, we should probably take care of the rest of Corneo’s cronies so that they can’t interrupt our interrogation.”   


“Y-yeah, that’s a good idea!”  Tifa agreed readily as she followed Aerith out the door.

Pleased with herself,  Aerith peered over the railing and saw some lackeys laughing obnoxiously and chugging their drinks. Seeing this gave  Aerith a delicious idea. 

“Hey,  Tifa , what goes great with booze?”  Aerith sweetly turned around and walked backwards.

“Careful, there’s stairs!”  Tifa fervently whispered and reached for  Aerith’s hand to pre-emptively save her from Stair Death. “Depends on the drink,” she answered seriously and released Aerith’s hand once she stopped moving.

“The answer is Fire!”  Aerith declared as she cast the spell to shoot down towards the goons. She was rewarded with a fantastic  arrary of screams and giggled at the mayhem she caused. Of course, she had intended a little more chaos for  Tifa by making sure the hem of her dress managed to get aflame as surely as her heart was.

“Oh no,  Tifa ! My dress got caught in the line of fire! You’re  gonna have to pat me do- owwwwwwww !”  Aerith yelped as  Tifa cast a Blizzard on her dress that nicked her shin.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean for it to hit you, I just had to make sure it wasn’t going to spread and I couldn’t find a fire extinguisher,”  Tifa rambled. “Are you ok? We should make sure those guys aren’t coming,”  Tifa said as she actually  _ ran away _ from  Aerith’s pouting game.

Aerith could hear the cacophony of  Tifa’s fists and feet landing their marks on  Corneo’s cronies below. She looked down to her dress which was now lightly steaming from the Fire/Blizzard combo “Fuck,” she  stomped her foot and resigned herself to chase after  Tifa .

* * *

When Aerith regained her senses after dropping from Corneo’s room, she had a few unsavory thoughts racing through her mind to match the foul stench around her. Firstly, she lamented that she couldn't _rip ‘_ _em_ _off_ , which was something that pervert one thousand percent deserved. Secondly, she had managed to somehow bruise her entire body when she landed down in this dump and she didn’t even need to look at her clothes to know that they were ruined. But most importantly, she didn’t know how she was going to cope because she just heard Tifa saying to Cloud that she would kill for a shower.

“ Aerith , are you ok?” Cloud made his way over to her,  Tifa bouncing on her heels a little bit as she scanned their environment. What sweet little protectors they were, Aerith cooed to herself.

“Well the floor broke my fall instead of me, so I guess,”  Aerith quipped as she stood up, to the protest of absolutely every inch of her body.

Tifa shot her a guilty look. “ Aerith , I’m really sorry for dragging you into this, I just...do you think what  Corneo said is true?” She wrung her hands and looked askance.  Aerith could feel her anxious energy louder than Cloud’s muted one. 

“It’s not going to hurt to get to Sector 7 faster which will happen if I help out,”  Aerith nodded her way through both Cloud’s and  Tifa’s renewed protests. “It’s my decision to help you both, so you don’t need to feel guilty about forcing anything on me!  So let’s go...?” She trailed off as they turned as one to hear a rumbling roar from behind them.

Of  _ course _ there was a gnarly, giant monster coming from the only foreseeable exit.

Aerith readied her staff and felt the Materia begin to sing to her. “Well,  Tifa , looks like you’re going to help  meeeep ?” She clamped her jaw shut when she saw  Tifa hurtle herself towards the beast and unleash a series of kicks to its right horn. It recoiled with a growl and  Tifa seized the opportunity to deliver a sound upper-cut to its jaws with a cry of “It’s over!”

Clutching her staff to her chest, Aerith could only stare in wonder as Tifa proceeded to pummel the beast. She shakily raised a hand to high-five Cloud, who reciprocated almost instantly. He had trained for this moment. Aerith was so proud.

“A little help here!”  Tifa yelled back as the ground shook when the beast landed on all fours and lowered its head.

“It’s  gonna charge!” Cloud called out as he and  Aerith scattered to the sides of the beast as it barreled towards them, Cloud swiping at its haunches as it narrowly missed them.

“Phew...and I thought they smelled bad on the outside,”  Aerith gagged. There was no way she was going to cast Fire and risk that rancid stench getting worse.

Cloud rushed the creature to try and draw its ire away from  Tifa and  Aerith , however its tail kept lashing out at  Tifa as she tried to flank it. That simply wouldn’t do,  Aerith huffed. Throwing down an Arcane Ward, she cast  Blizzara on its tail. The successful strikes had the beast roaring and staggering, allowing Cloud and  Tifa to unleash a barrage of attacks on it.

“You can just chill out,” Aerith scolded the beast as she continued to cast Blizzaras on it so Cloud and Tifa were free to finish it off.

With an ear-splitting groan, the beast was finally vanquished and they breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Aerith knew it was time to strike.

“ Tifa ,” she whined, “my hands are  _ so cold _ after casting all those  Blizzaras ! I sure could use some help warming them  umph !?”  Aerith was cut off by  Tifa wrapping a towel around her hands. “Where did you get this?”

Tifa gave her a little grin and stepped away, leaving  Aerith to use the towel all on her lonesome. “I’m a bartender, I usually have a little hand towel like this on me always.”

“She owns a bar called Seventh Heaven,” Cloud chimed in as Tifa looked adorably bashful.

“Can I come visit?” Aerith fluttered her eyelashes.

Tifa nodded exuberantly. “Of course! Drinks are on me!”

“Oh, like body shots?”  Aerith teased and  Tifa’s instant blush was  worth it.

“I-I-what?”

“Well then, we’d better get to Sector 7 even faster!”  Aerith pumped a fist into the air. “Cloud! Let’s go!”

* * *

Aerith was completely besotted. Perhaps she was getting a little ahead of herself, but  Tifa had requested  Aerith’s help to fix the pump and was becoming more  endearing with every new moment that  Aerith couldn’t blame herself.

She also could not be blamed for being so distracted by  Tifa’s amazing musculature on full display, causing  Aerith to not even bother trying to help her operate the pump.  Tifa was a little upset so  Aerith made sure to make it up to her by performing admirably right after and getting a date out of her.

Tifa’s anxiety over Sector 7 was starting to escalate with each new area they went into, so  Aerith felt compelled to try even harder to distract  Tifa —one date out of her wasn’t enough! Zack must be laughing his fine ass off at her utilizing his moves.

As  Tifa sunk deeper into her own thoughts,  Aerith decided it was time to get back into the swing of Act 3. With a bunch of the gross sewer rats coming up to harass them yet again,  Aerith cast an  Aerora perhaps a  _ little too late _ and somehow tripped herself up in the gust of it. 

“ Owch !  Tifa , I got the wind knocked out of me,”  Aerith chirped as  Tifa groaned good-naturedly. “I feel a bit dizzy, perhaps some  _ strong arms _ could steady me...wait, what’s this...YUCK?”

Tifa had crouched down and waved some smelling salts under  Aerith’s nose. They smelled horrendous and gave her an instant headache. “This should clear your head in no time!”

Aerith flailed her hands in front of her face to try to dissipate the smell. “It’s cleared! It’s cleared!”

With a sly smile,  Tifa stood and offered her hand to help  Aerith up, which she gladly took. If  Aerith overcompensated getting up and she just happened to collapse a little against  Tifa and wound up having to caress her way down  Tifa’s biceps, well.

“Are you guys coming?” Cloud called out, mercifully saving Tifa from what was shaping up to be a mental shut-down.

“ Bruh ,”  Aerith tutted.

* * *

While the Train Graveyard was eerie incarnate,  Aerith felt a strange sense of loneliness and despair all  around. The Planet whispered in children’s voices and sobs and if she listened very carefully, she could hear cries coming from around Cloud and  Tifa . Their past bound them together so tightly but also caused them immense grief. They were clearly uncomfortable, but  Tifa’s fright was a mixed blessing. She was too busy being scared of the ghosts to not be so anxious about Sector 7.

It was  Aerith’s newly sworn duty to protect Cloud and  Tifa here.  Tifa was so reserved and careful about what she said and how she touched that  Aerith felt a little elated that  Tifa stuck close behind her and put a hand on her arm until it was time to fight. 

Which was something  Aerith ought to  paying attention to, so it was time to unleash Act 4. With the drake swooping in and out around Cloud and  Tifa ,  Aerith cast Slow on the drake. It didn’t stand a chance with Cloud and  Tifa finally able to connect their hits.

A true pity it was that  Aerith had that Arcane Ward up and her extra Slow had nowhere to go but herself.

“ Aerith ? Are you...ok?” Cloud inquired as he and  Tifa returned to her side. “Did a Ghost hit you with Slow? Where is it?” He immediately started walking around with the Buster Sword drawn, trying to provoke anything hiding in the shadows.

Tifa , however, was catching on and put her hands on her hips. “Guess I’ll just have to cast Haste on you,” she sighed.

“No... carry...me...” Aerith struggled to speak but no sooner did she get the words out than Tifa finished casting Haste on her.

This was to be Tifa’s undoing.

“Wow, thanks  Tifa ! I can see sounds now! Did you know that you are super fast? Like, really fast. Like I wouldn’t ever need to cast Haste on you fast!”

“Oh no,” Tifa sighed, realizing her mistake.

Aerith paid her no heed and grabbed her hand. “Let’s go help Cloud! He’s really a big softie, did you know we helped out the kids at Leaf House and they all made mini buster swords out of cardboard? I bet they would give you one if we went to visit them! Oh! And I can show you my house, I’ve got a lot of flowers! They would look so great in your hair! Hey, Tifa, can I braid your hair sometime?”

* * *

Tifa had started down the stairs, mind no doubt swirling about her past with Cloud,  Nibelheim and Sephiroth. The Whispers revealed much to  Aerith about her new friends and she had to work hard not to ask  Tifa about it.

Hojo’s bastardly plot to make them do his dirty work riled  Aerith up to no end. “I  _ hate  _ that man, I really do,” the venom oozed from  Aerith’s declaration. 

Tifa looked back at her and stops in her tracks. Her brow knitted together and she opened her mouth to speak but stopped herself short as she swiveled around as an anguished howl resounded. They moved to the edge of the railing to peer below them—more of  Hojo’s experiments wailed and thrashed below them. 

Aerith suddenly felt inspired to wreak all sorts of  havoc . “ Tifa !” She whirled around, gripping her staff, eyes alight. “Permission to kill!”

Tifa didn’t hesitate as she pulled her gloves tighter. “ _ Granted _ .”

As if  Aerith hadn’t endured enough of  Hojo’s bullshit already, the endless scores of his unsavory ‘experiments’ just wouldn’t stop coming. She was incensed beyond compare. The only light in the travails of this misery was  Tifa and her could spend some quality time together navigating the Drum. The boys were waiting for their help to get to the next ward, so  Aerith finally let loose on all the monsters in their way.

Perhaps a little too loose, since  Aerith accidently caught herself in a Thundaga spell.

For real this time, it was an actual accident.

“Sure it was,”  Tifa’s voice sounded so far away.

Did  Aerith just that aloud? She was absolutely addled from the force of the spell. She was already sitting down on the floor, and it seemed she fried everything in her path, scorch marks searing the floor.

“ Of course it was!”  Aerith pouted up at  Tifa . But an opportunity presented had to be taken. “My,  Tifa ...I must say...you are  _ shockingly _ attractive.”

Tifa facepalmed. “ Aerith . Please.” She begged through her blush.

Aerith waggled her fingers towards Tifa. “My legs are too tingly to stand on, could some dashing hero carry me to the bench so I can recover?”

“I mean, we do have to fix your hair,”  Tifa tilted her head, a finger to her chin.

“What happened to my hair!”  Aerith demanded, hands flying up to her head.

“Kidding,”  Tifa laughed and scooped  Aerith summarily up into her arms.

“My hero,”  Aerith purred as  Tifa carried her the short distance to the bench and set her upon it.

Aerith committed to memory the vision of  Tifa stretching before joining  Aerith on the bench. She yawned and  Aerith scooted a little closer.

“Hmmm, being pretty must be very tiring,” Aerith surmised and tapped her fingers on top of  Tifa’s gloved ones.

Tifa turned to  Aerith , tilting her head. “Then you must be so exhausted.”

Aerith gasped, her face burning up. “ _Fuck_.”


End file.
